Dear First_Name,

It’s been a busy week!  This past week, we welcomed more than 500 new students to SIPA. I hope the past few days have been filled with excitement, new friendships, connections to your intellectual community, and that you’ve had a smooth registration for fall 2024 classes. Your advisers and the entire staff at OSA are available to you! Please stop by if you need any assistance.

We hope the welcome remarks from the school’s leadership were inspiring and conveyed to you how valuable you are to our community. We believe in your potential to put the knowledge you will gain at SIPA toward making a positive impact on the world.

Our presenters this week shared important advice for new students:

• Be intellectually courageous! Take advantage of all Columbia University has to offer including its location in the incredible city of New York.
• Understand the value of your fellow students as your future network. Invest in these relationships and you will have more fun, learn more, and leave with a valuable professional network and hopefully some true friends for life.
• Practice wellness and self-care. That will look different for each of you, but it is essential. If you have not begun exploring it, let this experience be a place where you begin cultivating that practice.
• Don't compare your journey against other people's accomplishments. There's a reason why you chose to be here. Remember that.
• Don't get too frustrated with how slow you think you're moving in school vs. how fast the world outside is progressing. We are here to build up perspective and skills so we can have a huge impact when we leave.
• Be a leader at the School and broadly who helps foster greater inclusion, promotes global exchange that is both intercultural and multidisciplinary to achieve sustainable outcomes.
• Join a student group. It’s a quick way to connect with fellow students who share your interests and play an active role in initiatives that matter to you. (You can learn more about student groups at SIPAFEST on September 19.)
• Attend SIPA events featuring the world’s top decision makers, politicians, activists, and more. You won’t likely have time to attend them all, but this is not the time to hold back.
• Seek out your academic adviser to help you find balance between your academics, life at SIPA, and any other issues you are facing

Surveys! Your feedback is important to us:

• If you attended the Inclusive Policy Making orientation session, please complete this one-minute confirmation form so we can mark that requirement as complete and hear your thoughts on the session.

• Please share your New Student Orientation feedback by completing this form or emailing us. We value your thoughts on your orientation experience and we’re always seeking ways to improve.

Reminders!

• University Life’s Welcome Home Columbia events begin next week: Learn more here>>
   
• SIPA Academic Affairs will be hosting the first-ever Academic Resources Fair on September 6. You can register here.

• If your plans have changed and you no longer can join SIPA for the Fall 2024 semester, please contact SIPA Admissions at sipa_admission@columbia.edu immediately to let them know your status change. If you hope to join us for a future term, consider reapplying for the spring or fall 2025. Learn more about reapplying to SIPA.

This marks the last “Starting at SIPA” message you will receive. Starting next week, you will begin receiving weekly newsletters from OSA for all SIPA students. We hope these messages have been informative and useful! If you ever want to look at an old message, they can be found on the Starting at SIPA newsletter page.

We wish you a great Labor Day weekend holiday and good luck with the start of classes. Remember, this is your time and welcome home!

- Your Office of Student Affairs